Improved grapnel for wells



' UNITED STATES PATENT Or'ricn..

JACKSON R. CARR, OF ELLENVILLE, NEV YORK.

IMPRovED GRAPNEL FOR WELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,929, dated May 30, 1805.

.To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAcxsoN R. CARR, of Ellenville, in the county of Ulster and State of N ew York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grapnels for Deep Vells; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in whichvFigure 1 is a longitudinal section of a grapnel made according to my invention, taken on the line g/ of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken on the line x of Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention has for its object to produce an implement for use by miners and by those engaged in boring Artesian and other wells, by means of which they can recover from the bottom of the bore broken pieces of drills and other comparatively light objects.

When a drill is broken during the operation of boring a well and the fragments or parts thereof are left in the well, it has been found very difficult and expensive to recover them. The work of boring is necessarily stopped until such fragments are recovered,

Abecause the steel or iron fragments would destroy the face of a drill if another one were introduced, even if the fragments were so small as not to cover the area of the bore. Itis therefore necessary to remove such fragments from the well before proceeding with the work of drilling. This difficulty occurs with metallic pieces or fragments of any otherv description which cannot be cut and beaten to pieces as rock is cut and beaten by a drill.

When large and heavy fragments-such as long pieces of a drill-rod or of a tube-fall into a well, they are usually'removed by powerful grapnels or other suitable means, not necessary, to be here described, because my invention does not relate to them. Hy invention is designed for the recovery of small fragments of steel or other metal from off the bottom of 1 the well.

A designates a well which is being bored.

B is a cylindrical case, open at bottom, and connected at top with an extension-case, C, of smaller diameter. A spring-rod, d, made fast at its upper end in the top of the case C, ex-

tends downward through a` perforation, e', in the top of an inner case, E, which is fixed concentrically within the case B, so as to leave an annular space between them. The said inner case, E, has a close diaphragm, e, across it, a little way below its top, so as to protect the end of the spring-rod. At a proper point above the end of the spring-rod d, I make a notch, g, so as to form of the rod alatch which will engage with the right-hand edge of a perforation in the top of the disk D. The rod is so fixed in the top of the small case C as to spring toward or bear against the edge of the perforation. On the inside of the case E are guides o c', one of which is fixed to its top and the other against one of its sides. These guides inclose and guide a slide, b, which is bent at its upper end nearly at a right angle, and which, when it is forced upward, moves against the lower end of the rod el and disengages it from the disk D. This slide extends, when drawnv down to its lowest position, alit* tle way below the edges of the cylinders E and B.

D is a movable disk placed within the case B above the top of the inner case, E. To its periphery are fixed the ends of numerous fiat springs a, whose tension is toward the center or axis of the cylinder B. The disk D is perforated to permit itsfree movement up and down over the spring-rod d. A lifting-rod, F, is fixed to the top of the disk D, said rod passing up through the top of the upper case,

The lower ends of the rods F and d are, moreover, protected bya collar, jwhich rises from about the center of the disk D.

T is a spiral spring, placed within the ease C, about the collar f. Its upper end bears against the top of the case C and its lower end against the disk D.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: When the grapnel is to be used to recover a piece of metal or any refractory substance which resists the drill from oft' the bottom of the well, it is lowered into the well, with its parts in the position seen in blue outline in Fig. l, the disk D being held up by means of the latch g of the rod d, to which position it is brought by drawing the rod F upward,

'thereby also compressing the spring T. In

this condition of the parts the spring-arms a are concealed between the cylinders B and E. Vhen the grapnel` reaches the bottom of the Well, the proj eeting,1 end of the slide b will touch the bottom of the Well, and the Weight of the grapnel Will compel the slide to move in its guides, so that its upper end Will press against the lower end of the r-od d, and thereby release the disk D from the latch or notch g, when the force of the spring T will immediately drive down the disk D and its arms a Without and beyond the cylinders B and E, when they Will assume the position seen in red outline7 elasping any object lying` on the bottom of the Well,\v'l1ich obj ect can then be drawn out of the Well by raising the grapnel.

The inner case may or may not be used as a Clav-chamber 7 in which a bod f of cla or 

